Go Back To Sleep
by Ich liebe Tod
Summary: Gaara's adventures in the land of sleep as he battles Naruto during the chuunin exams. Rated for a small helping of violence. Please enjoy.
1. Part I

Hello, everyone. Welcome to my second story, my first ever Naruto fic. I think this one is at least okay, but that decision is not up to me, now is it? Read, enjoy, review, tell your friends, and possibly get some snacks. Shh, it's starting!

* * *

**Go Back To Sleep**

The baby had been born the day before, and no one was sure how to react. It was a cute baby, as babies usually are, and it promised a better future for Sunagakure's military. But although it looked like one, no one was fooled into thinking it was human; it was a monster in a deceptive infant form, and no matter how much good it could bring, it would inevitably bring an even bigger array of terrible things as well.

Because of what it was, everyone either saw it as a weapon, what it was supposed to be, or a monster, what it was. Its trickery caught no one off guard; everyone knew what was inside of it, and it made them hate and fear it. They knew what it did to its family. It was evil.

But regardless of what people thought of it, it belonged to the Kazekage, and he was to be respected. They could hate and fear it all they wanted as long as they let it thrive and coexist, because they wouldn't want to insult the Kazekage. It was his idea, after all.

It was currently cradled in the arms of this man, its father, silently watching his face. He was standing outside on the flat portion of the roof of the council building, watching the baby in a similar manner. Every once in a while it would yawn, shift slightly, and its eyelids would feel heavy and vaguely attempt to fight an urge to close. Each time this happened the Kazekage would nudge it gently so as to wake it, for he did not want it to fall asleep. He wasn't sure how long it would take, or even if it would work at all, but he would keep trying until it no longer felt the need to sleep. Once again it yawned. The Kazekage tapped it lightly on the forehead, and turned around to face his brother-in-law, who had just shown up behind him.

"Sir, if you would prefer, I could take over for you so that you can get some rest," he said.

The Kazekage stared at the new arrival for a second before responding. "Not quite yet, Yashamaru. I am his father, but more importantly I am his master, and it's best that this is established as early as possible." His eyes darted worriedly to the baby, then back to its uncle when he saw that it was still awake. Yashamaru sighed as he closed his eyes and bowed.

"Alright, sir. I thought that maybe you were tired, seeing as you have been awake with Gaara since he was born yesterday. It is not conducive to your health to go without sleep for as long as you plan to."

The Kazekage sighed as well, letting the air seep slowly through his nose as he turned back to the baby and watched it yawn again. He reached out and pinched its nose.

"You are dismissed, Yashamaru," he said, watching the baby squirm as it struggled for air. He rearranged his hand so that his palm covered its mouth as well, just as it was about to stabilize its breath. The sand below his feet trembled and swilled as it flailed and cried in a vain attempt to escape his restricting grasp.

"Sir-"

"You are dismissed."

He released his grip on the babies face when he saw its eyes loose focus and roll aimlessly around in their sockets. Its breath returned, deep and jolted from its gaping mouth. From behind them there could be heard a sharp intake of air coming from Yashamaru. He turned around again, irked by his in-laws disobedience. But as he prepared to speak he was distracted by the appearance of two small children through the roof entrance door. The smaller of the two walked slowly and unsteadily over the sand-coated floor, guided by the other, slightly bigger and more balanced child, by the hand. Together they toddled towards him, and he stared at them blankly as they advanced.

"Papa, Kankuro looks sick and Chiyo says there's a meeting," said the latter. "Um…now…"

The Kazekage blinked.

"Temari, take this," he said as he bent over and carefully dropped the baby into her arms. "Make sure he stays awake."

He ignored everyone he walked by as he headed for the exit. When he was gone, Yashamaru walked over to the three children and squatted in front of Kankuro. He looked into the boys flushed face with genuine concern, silently asking what the problem was. Kankuros eyes became clouded once again with tears as his sister held the babys right eye open with her fingers. She watched despondently as its eyelids jerked against the hold she had over them.

As Kankuro began sobbing, Temari let go of the captured pair of eyelids and felt her lip tremble. Before she made any noise, though, it began whimpering quietly, as if it wanted to follow suit but could not. As if distracted by her own urge to cry, she put the baby on the ground and wobbled over to Yashamaru.

"Gaara, something's wrong with Gaara, uncle," she whined, tugging his sleeve.

"Temari, not now," he responded, waving her of dismissively as he tried to calm her wailing brother.

"But!"

Two feet away the baby she had abandoned lay calmly on its back, its only movement in the form of blinking. Again it yawned, clenching its little fists and shutting its eyes. A soft breeze flowed past gently and lulled it to sleep.

* * *

Even though it was pitch dark, the baby could still see. It lay on its side, staring silently at its surroundings. It found itself on a splintered wooden floor, its elbow digging into a loose nail, in a room with four rusted green walls. The wall it faced was occupied primarily by a wide cell, sealed by thick metal bars approximately one foot apart from each other. Engraved into the walls and floor were deep scratches; grains of sand sat embedded in the fragmented layers.

The baby inhaled the dry, motionless air. It was responded to with a much louder, stronger intake of breath. Soon after a gust of wind sighed forth from inside of the cell. The baby shivered and squirmed uncomfortably.

A giant yellow eye appeared behind the bars of the cell. It disappeared, and then reappeared along with another identical eye. As whatever the source of the eyes was began to laugh, it moved forwards and came into full view. A monster, seemingly made of stone, crouched on four legs and breathed, giving the illusion of an animated statue.

The monster sniffed the air, and then stared at the baby.

"Who are you?" it said in a loud, shrieking voice.

The baby's eyes grew wide, its entire body frozen in terror. The monster drew forth an immense set of claws and fitted them in the gaps between the bars. With minimal effort the monster tore most of the bars from the wall and brought its head through the opening. It looked down at the baby with a facial expression closely related to a grin.

"It's always a baby," it shouted. "Does it always have to be a baby?"

It reached for the baby with an enormous paw and cautiously felt the side of its face. With a quick, fluid movement it grabbed the babies ear and ripped it off. Blood poured from the wound as the baby cried in pain. Temporarily blinded by a white light that blocked its vision, it could not see the floating grains of sand, buzzing around the room like flies. But it could feel them as they concentrated and latched onto the spot were its ear had been. They coated its wound, absorbing its blood and scraping its intact flesh until it broke. The baby howled in response to the searing pain, and heard the monster cackling happily as the white light became black

* * *

"Uncle!" Temari moaned, pulling at his arm and calling for him for the umpteenth time. Kankuro had his face buried in his hands, and Yashamaru tried to comfort him as best he could, but the incessant whining of his niece was becoming unbearable. "Temari, what do you want?" he asked, finally acknowledging her complaints.

The little girls eyes darted back and forth once, and she pointed at the spot she had left the baby in. "Gaara, something's wrong with Gaara, uncle," she whispered, as if confiding a secret.

Yashamaru followed the direction of her finger and his eyes fell to the baby. It was still lying on the floor, but it was covered in sand. Sand flew in all directions, orbiting the baby's body and seemingly crushing it under its weight.

"Gaara!" he exclaimed, and released Kankuro so that he could grab the baby instead. He shook it lightly until it woke up. It's eyes shot open, wide and bloodshot, and did not close. The two of them stayed this position even as the Kazekage returned, appearing before them in a flurry of sand and wind. He stared coldly at Yashamaru, then at the baby, and then at Yashamaru again.

"He was asleep," he stated grimly.

Yashamaru looked down, away from the Kazekages scolding eyes. "Yes, sir, I think he was." Yashamaru swallowed, although his mouth was dry, and looked at his niece and nephew. Temari had been watching her brother, and had begun crying as well, although not as loudly as with less moisture. His eyes traveled back to the baby he held. It's eyes were still the same. It was breath heavy and unstable. He swallowed once again and, without looking up, handed the baby to its enraged father.

"I apologize. Hopefully I can make up for my foolish mistake somehow. I am truly sorry."

The Kazekage continued to stare. There were blood vessels visible in his eyes as he accepted the baby and looked at his other two children.

"I suppose his first training session is over," he said.

And the baby stayed awake for a very long time.


	2. Part II

Hello, and welcome to the second chapter of "Go Back." These are essentially just two parts of a three-part story, so I really don't think there is any point in differentiating between them beyond calling them parts. Hence the name "Part Two." From the context I'm sure you can figure out at what time this takes place. Please enjoy! (And possibly review or favorite, winkwink, hinthint.) Seriously, a review would be greatly appreciated. I always want to know how I can improve. That's why I'm here.

* * *

The medium stood perfectly still, cocooned in sand. Sand that covered it entirely, from head to foot and beyond. Sand that made it tens to hundreds of times bigger than it was, changing its form into that of a giant tanuki instead of a human. Though the eyes of its face were closed, it could still see, through a second pair of eyes approximately twenty feet from its head. It could see the light blue of the sky and the thin white clouds it contained. It could see the motionless heads of the trees that made up the forest surrounding it. It could see the three people standing in branches and staring at it, as well as that dog that was with them, and the girl it had pinned to a trunk. Its prey. 

It could smell them as well. It could smell their sweat, of which there was plenty. It could smell their blood, also abundant. It could smell their fear, too, and there was _no_ shortage of that.

And it could hear their fear too. It could hear them yelling, screaming, cursing, crying, gasping, groaning, making stupid remarks, promising stupid things, forming stupid strategies, just generally being stupid. It could hear itself, guaranteeing itself victory, mocking its enemy's blatant weakness, cracking and breaking and healing as its sand encasement moved.

Yes, even though its body was completely isolated from the world, it could still observe it. And function within it. For example, it could see, and was absolutely fascinated by, the gigantic frog that had just appeared out of nowhere. It was completely unaware that its prey could use a summoning technique. And an extremely powerful one at that. What an interesting turn of events.

"Very…" it said. "Interesting…"

It lifted its outer arms and held them out at its side, crumbling and shifting and facing its giant palms toward the sky.

"_Interesting!_" it shouted.

Then the sand around it began to move. Underneath its feet the sand pushed upward, shoving it vertically into the statue-like armors head. Its upper body emerged through the center of the giant forehead, exposing its upper half to the air. The sand around its legs tightened to prevent it from falling.

Its eyes, despite now being free to open, remained closed so that their owner could continue to rely on its second pair. It lifted its arms and clasped its hands together in an attempt to concentrate. It smiled slightly, and reminded itself silently to take its time, because it wasn't in any particular hurry. It told itself that it would be all worth it in the end, because they would die when it came. And god, it needed them to die, very badly. It made a conscious decision to slow down its chakra build-up, not only because it was getting tired, but also so that it could continue watching the amusing antics of its enemies. It was even more real if they fought back, which they so seldom did.

While still collecting chakra, it looked on as the one that had been causing it so much trouble spoke to the frog he had summoned. That boy refused to shut up or mind his own damn business, would not except his inevitable death, and continually got in the way of everything it was supposed to do, or, more importantly, what it wanted to do; and now he was _discussing_ it with the frog king. He was talking about it, asking questions, meddling far beyond what he needed to know. Hadn't it told him enough already? It had revealed its entire life to him without even being asked, and he still wanted more? What a jackass. But it didn't matter too much, because he was going to die.

Finally it felt that it had gathered enough power to initiate its next jutsu. It had already formed the appropriate seal; all it really needed now was to, well, do it. It was momentarily distracted by a small matter it had forgotten to take care of, though…

It looked down into the trees, at the girl it had pinned to one by its detached hand, from earlier in the fight. It tightened its grip on her, remaining just loose enough to allow her to breathe every few seconds. It stared for a moment, wondering whether it should kill her before or after it lets _it_ kill everyone else. After all, it might forget again later, after her friend has actually lost; and its not like he won't loose anyway. But he hasn't lost quite yet, so it would be fairer if it killed her after…

It was pulled out of its thoughts as it noticed its chakra begin to dissipate in its inattentiveness. It pulled everything back together hurriedly, so as to avoid loosing any more of it.

"_Force Sleep Technique_," it said.

Its face, previously grinning as wide as was humanly possible, became expressionless. Its hands released each other and flopped down to its sides. The dead weight of its sleeping head pulled its body into a hunched position, its arms dangling awkwardly in front of it. The instant before it completely lost consciousness, it made one last observation: the girl it could recognize, the only female still awake…what was her name? Te…Temari…yes, that was it. It could see her eyes widen in fear, wider then it had ever seen them before. It saw her flee, jumping as far as her legs would allow to a distant tree, surely anticipating something dreadful.

* * *

At long last the medium decided it was appropriate to open its eyes. It looked around, seeing that it was not in the forest anymore, but not truly acknowledging it. This place it was now in was much more familiar than the forest, yet it had spent a significantly longer amount of time in that forest then here. But it had been here before, more than once, and had more to associate it with. By no means, though, did that mean that it liked this place better. It knew exactly what it thought of that stupid forest; everything about it was awful, from the lush flora to the lovely blue and white sky. It had mixed feelings about its current location, though, and the fact that it wasn't definitive made it upset.

Simultaneously it was freezing cold and scalding hot, creating a freakish shivering-warm sensation. The walls seemed to be made of very old copper, their bumpy texture making them look like they were cold. One of the walls led to a giant cell, guarded partially by vertical metal bars. Most of them were twisted or bent somehow. Many of them were only attached to either the ceiling or the floor; a vast minority were undamaged, and a small number were completely removed and strewn across the floor. The cell was empty save for a large pile of sand in the far left corner. The entire floor was covered in a thin layer of sand, varying in thickness at random areas. It stood in the center of the room, ankle deep in sand.

One of its eyes was having great difficulty staying open, and twitched slightly; the other eye remained as motionless as ever. It frowned, although on occasion it would morph into a grin, but never stayed as one for long. It remembered what the meaning of it being in this room was, and because of that it knew that she would be there. She was in there in the forest too, but not in quite the same way she would be here. It watched the spot it assumed she would arrive in intently with its better eye, willing her appearance hopefully.

Behind it a woman appeared, standing straight and smiling brightly. Her expression was one of absolute bliss. She made no effort to attract its attention. But it soon noticed another presence, and turned around to greet her. She stared in its general direction vacantly. It saw her seemingly concerned look, and brought its hand up to its face, to a large wound festering on the left side of its head. It traced the perimeter of the wound with its fingertips, outlining the top of its head and around its eye, to the corner of its mouth and the top of its neck, and back to its scalp. There was barely any skin in this area, and the exposed muscle was bleeding, aside form a few areas where the flow was blocked by trapped grains of sand. Instead of an ear there was a hole coated in a dried green fluid, forming a moist crust.

Its index finger brushed the surface of its neck muscle as it passed, and it hissed slightly as it felt a sharp sting rush to the offended nerves. It clenched its teeth a bit and dropped its hand. It walked up to the woman and looked up into her serene face. She continued to smile.

"Mom," it said to her, its overactive mouth settling on a smile. "Mother, I'm sorry I haven't killed Uchiha yet. But he will die soon, along with two other humans. Is that enough, mother? Because if it isn't, I can kill Temari as well. And the dog, and those frogs. We could go back to Konohagakure, I'm sure there are plenty of people there who are good enough…"

The woman smiled passively, making no move to respond.

Suddenly an odd rumbling sound erupted from nowhere. The corners of the room surged and contracted, and expanded again. As it became less active the woman's body began to ripple, and large bulbous spheres erupted near her face. They collapsed as quickly as the room had fixed itself, and she was normal once again, aside from one of her eyelids, which only opened halfway. Her lips began to move, forming words, but no sound was produced. It watched her attentively though, as if it could hear her speaking.

"Well, I'm sure they're dying right now, if they haven't already. Is there any blood? I can't tell, but I'm sure you are able to…is it satisfactory, mother?" it said, as if in response to something.

The woman crouched down and after another moment of soundless words, stared worriedly at its injury. She silently moved her mouth and slowly reached for its face.

"Mother, it was there last time we were her, remember? I think it will go away again once we leave-ow…"it moaned as she cupped its wounded cheek in her palm. With her other hand she reached behind it, and wormed her way under the edge of its skin with her fingernails, forcing her fingers into its neck. In one quick motion she clamped down on the skin and ripped it off, removing at least two-thirds of the remaining skin from its neck. Blood gushed from the newly formed injury, snaking down its back and over its shoulder. Blood trickled down its arm and painted its hands. Blood dripped from its fingers and splattered on the floor.

Its eyes, struggling to stay open, focused all of their remaining vision on the woman in front of it. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was closed, her countenance radiating a sadness mixed with concerned confusion. It could feel her skin against its cheek, gradually loosing its original softness and becoming rough and uneven like sandpaper. Her face and her body, as well as her clothes, visible hardened and cracked. Bits of her began to chip off and fall to the floor. The lines defining her features, as well as the boundaries between her clothes and her body, began to meld together and become the same color.

What was once flesh was now sand, no different from the sand that filled the rest of the room, aside from its vague shape. This sand drilled mercilessly into its face, deepening the already vicious wound. Sand leaked into its mouth, mixing with the vast amount of blood it drew. This saturated sand was expelled, dribbling over its chin and onto its shirt. It looked at its assailants deformed face and saw it smiling again, cheerfully disintegrating.

"Mother," it managed to choke out despite its partially blocked windpipe. "Stop…"

But its words were in vain, as the woman was now completely gone. An equal volume of sand floated around its head. It was left alone, vomiting red sand and trying to guard the hole in its mouth with one hand. It fell to its knees and bent over, its torso parallel to the ground, and supported itself this way with the other hand. Sand continued to circle it, gaining speed with every passing second, neither aiming for it nor avoiding it.

The combination of its attempting to scream and the blockage of its throat caused its breathing to halt. Collapsing to the floor it gasped for air, coughing and wheezing. One especially violent cough forced two of its fingers through its cheek, and it clamped down on them with its teeth in hopes of achieving an unidentified goal. This accomplished nothing, however. Just as it felt it was going to die from lack of air, it again puked up a mixture of sand, blood and spit that cleared its throat. It drew in a heavy breath and released it, relief flowing through its veins alongside oxygen.

It lay quietly in that position for a while. Its throat, scraped and tender from the sand it had swallowed, burned as it breathed. It stayed motionless, watching sand race around above its head as if it were a gas. Sand headed in no particular direction, flying like a swarm of insects trapped in a box. Sand that would occasionally penetrate its wounds, renewing the sharp pain that had dulled slightly in the course of a few minutes. But it was tolerable, as long as it was able to breathe. Anything was tolerable, so long as it could breathe. Besides, it had already known pain exactly like this before. It did not remember earlier, but then again it never remembered anything that happened in this room until it was back. Now that this had happened again, though, it realized this had already happened on several other occasions. Every time it was here, actually. Soon it would have a massive headache, the room would fade away, and it would be back where it had been before. Soon it would be away from this place and back in that forest, where its mother would protect it instead of hurt it.

It remembered why it loved and hated this place at the same time. It loved that its mother was alive here, in her human form, the way she was twelve years ago. But there was something about this room that made her act differently, something that made her crazy.

But it couldn't imagine what that was…

As it had predicted, its head began to throb. Instinctually its arms flew to its head and clutched at its forehead, protecting it as if the threat was from outside of its body. The room seemed to pulse the same way its brain did, shrinking and growing just as it had earlier. Its vision clouded, causing everything to fade into blackness and disappear

* * *

A boy was standing in front of it, moving backwards as if caught in slow motion. He had a serious expression on his face, but was obviously feeling triumphant, having done something he considered great. He almost smiled as he saw it open its eyes and watched as the sand monstrosity below it fell apart, collapsing into a wide puddle. It fell as well, landing roughly on a tree. The boy landed on another tree, a bit more smoothly then his adversary had. They looked into each other's eyes, glaring hatefully, getting ready to continue fighting.

The medium took advantage of the split second it had before the boy would leap at it to see what kind of damage had been done. It scanned the area, looking for the usual signs of death but not seeing any of them. Every person it had seen before; the boy flying towards it with its fist, the boy named Uchiha Sasuke, the girl they were trying to save from death, and the ugly little dog; were all still alive and in practically the same condition as before. The frogs were gone, but it had seen the clouds of smoke they made as they teleported away. The only damage it had done was to the trees. It hadn't spilled any blood since it fell asleep.

It was shocked.

It jumped out of the tree and raised its fist, preparing to smack the crap out of the boy coming towards it. He was pretty beat up; maybe it could still kill him. It needed to kill him. It thrust its fist forward, aiming for the boys face, as the boy did the same to him. But it did not make contact; the boy had got to it first, and sent it sailing headfirst to the ground. The boy was falling just as quickly, having put all of his remaining energy into that last punch, but he had still bested it. It landed heavily on its back as the boy landed on his front.

It looked at the boy, feeling shame creep through its head. It was defeated. If it was defeated, it did not deserve to exist. It did not exist.

It no longer existed.

The boy had taken his life.

And that boy was crawling toward it with the last of his energy. He pulled himself with his chin, unable to use his arms, advancing on it even though it was clear he could do no more. What more did he want? What did he want from it, why was he so insistent about it? He had already stopped it from killing him and his companions, what more did he need from it? Why did he care about those people? What was this all about?

So it asked him. It asked him what he was doing. Why he wanted to help those people who did nothing but slow him down. Why he was wasting his time.

And he gave an answer it didn't understand at all.


End file.
